FORMER Dunfermline boss Jim Leishman revealed fans and businessmen have pledged £100,000 to help keep the Fife club afloat then issued a rallying cry to supporters ahead of Saturday's home First Division game against Hamilton.

Seven first-team players were made redundant last week, along with assistant manager Gerry McCabe, after the club entered interim administration due to a £134,000 tax bill owed to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Bryan Jackson of accountants PKF is in control of the club and it looks like he will now have enough money to steer it through to the end of the season.

Former Pars player and manager Leishman, now Fife's Lord Provost, revealed disparate groups and individuals keen to help Dunfermline have settled their differences under the banner 'Pars United' and urged fans to return to East End Park, where the last crowd was a depressing 2879 against Falkirk last week.

At a press conference at the stadium, he said: "All the people have come together to work together and we have formed a strategy group, Pars United.

"Although it's a major step forward, this Saturday is a major, major moment. We need everyone to turn up and support the team.

"We're trying to mobilise a community and get everyone behind us to save the club.

"If you've got something you can cancel, cancel it. And that goes for all three home games between now and the end of the season."

Adding to the complexity of the situation is the sum of around £8.5million which is owed to majority shareholder Gavin Masterton and other companies.

More pressingly, though, the Pars have until April 11 to show they have sufficient finances to be granted full administration.

Businessman Bob Garmory - from the club's main sponsors, the Purvis Group - is confident the Fifers will make it through to the end of the season, before they look at a longer-term strategy.

He said: "The bigger issues are not forgotten about, they are parked at the moment to facilitate us in our save the Pars campaign.

"We have to save the Pars first before we can start talking about what the future looks like.

"The administrator obviously came in and did some initial calculations and he needed probably £100,000 at his disposal through to the end of the season.

"That money has been pledged by businessmen, Pars fans, local and international, who have all come together to put that money in to ensure that Bryan Jackson and his team from PKF have the facilities to manage us to through to the end of the season."

Asked if liquidation would perhaps be the easier option in the long run, Garmory replied: "We don't really want to see the club liquidated.

"Would it have been easier? I don't think so.

"I don't think the passage through that process would be quite the same as what occurred in the west end of Glasgow (referring to the liquidation of Rangers).

"I think we truly have a good opportunity with Bryan Jackson and his team of pulling this back from administration.

"Our long-term goal is to have sufficient resources available to us so that when Bryan says, 'here's the football club' the Pars fans are in a position to respond to that.

"There is also the long-term capitalisation of the club.

"Is that going to built around one owner, which we have had, or is it going to be multiple owners?

"We have to get that road map sorted out.

"It's not about getting out of administration and then going back to the way it was run before.

"We do know there has to be a different way."

Dunfermline are 23 points ahead of bottom side Airdrie United but have yet to discover how many points will be deducted by the Scottish Football League for entering administration.

Leishman said: "There are rules and we have to abide by them and take our punishment, we're not looking for a sympathy vote.

"And that's why Saturday is crucial again because every point is a prisoner and we might need them at the end of the season.